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The song contains abrupt key changes between A-flat major and C-major. The song also consists mostly of dotted eighth and quarter notes. Alec Wilder described these features as being uncharacteristic of a great theatrical song but acknowledged the song's great success regardless.[1]

The story may be apocryphal, but Irving Caesar indicated on Steve Allen's radio show that the lyrics were intended to be temporary.

In October 1927, the conductor Nikolai Malko challenged Dmitri Shostakovich to do an arrangement of a piece in 45 minutes. His "Tea for Two" arrangement, Opus 16, was first performed on 25 November 1928. It was incorporated into Tahiti Trot from his ballet The Golden Age first performed in 1929. Shostakovich wrote it in response to a challenge from conductor Nikolai Malko: after the two listened to the song on record at Malko's house, Malko bet 100 roubles that Shostakovich could not completely re-orchestrate the song from memory in under an hour. Shostakovich took him up and won, completing the orchestration in around 45 minutes

"Tea for Two" became a jazz standard and was recorded by numerous bands and instrumentalists. Early notable performances and a recording of the song were made by jazz virtuoso Art Tatum in 1939. Pianist Thelonious Monk knew the song well, reharmonizing the song and recording it with a bebop-style melody in 1952 with the name "Skippy" and returning to the original melody with a charming arrangement for his 1963 album Criss Cross. Anita O'Day's rendition of the song at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival was considered one of the festival's highlights.

"Tea for Two" was the most played song on the Lawrence Welk TV show, with over 1000 different broadcast episodes, "Tea for Two" was played on 67 different shows due to its popularity.

Chinese Composer Gao Ping quotes the song in the 2nd Soviet Love Song for Vocalizing Pianist, titled "Katyusha, Homage to D.Shostakovich."[3] The pianist whistles the theme while playing, ironically interrupting a turbulent passage for a few seconds.

A brief part of the song was used by comedian Stewart Francis for one of his one-liners concerning an over-active imagination and tap-dancing chipmunks.

The 2009 made-for-TV movie "Grey Gardens" (based on the 1975 documentary "Grey Gardens") features the character Edith Bouvier, played by Jessica Lange, singing "Tea for Two" and dancing by the piano while her musical instructor plays.

Pablo Bubar [1] reintroduced "Tea for Two" in one of the musical romance sketches of "Pablo the Romantic" from "Boom Town", broadcast by BBC Three (UK, 2013). This version includes the piano music of Ross Leadbeater [2].